Local D-Day vet: ‘It was rougher than hell’

It was 65-years ago that Hugh Riley of Mercer Island landed on Omaha Beach as part of the Allied D-Day invasion and became one of the enduring images of that bloody day.

“The water was actually red,” Riley told NBC’s Tom Brokaw for a recent story on NBC News. “It was rougher than hell, God it was rough. A shell hit the landing craft as soon as I stepped out.”

Robert Capa’s photo of Hugh Riley during the D-Day invasion. Riley now lives on Mercer Island.

Riley was shot and wounded. Legendary combat photographer Robert Capa took a picture of Riley, 22, as he struggled in the water. To listen to Brokaw’s report and his interview with Riley, click here.

HEAR ABOUT THE LOCAL REACTION TO D-DAY
In 2004, former Museum of History and Industry Deputy Director Feliks Banel produced an hour-long radio show that examines the local D-Day story.

The audio includes old news clips and info from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

News about D-Day hit Seattle the night of June 5. Church bells were rung across the city just after midnight, and prayer services were held, Banel said. Defense workers on graveyard shift celebrated at Boeing and the shipyards.